Unified Communications Meet FBI Tactics (08/11)

Unified Communications Meet FBI Tactics

WASHINGTON (August 2011)—The FBI has completed a major deployment to overhaul its computer workstations. The initiative, called Next Generation Workspace (NGW), features workstations with not only new and updated hardware but also software tools to foster collaboration within the Bureau and provide an opportunity for employees to create new ways to aid the FBI’s core mission.

NGW has brought unified communications to the FBI. By using new collaborative tools such as webcams and headsets with programs like Microsoft’s Live Meeting and Communicator, the opportunities for economical and efficient collaboration are endless. Multiple users can conduct meetings from their desks without travel. FBI employees can share information more efficiently and, more importantly, increase their productivity and focus on casework. Live Meeting, in particular, provides an avenue for employees to coordinate meetings, conduct training, and host video conferences across the country.

The FBI’s Human Resources Division (HRD) recently sponsored a web event in which Live Meeting was used to conduct a meeting between nearly 100 participants located in our Honolulu Field Office and our Headquarters in Washington, D.C. At this meeting, HRD was able to support its intern program by allowing interns to speak to Bureau executives as a part of HRD’s Executive Speaker Series.

NGW has become an indispensable solution to many logistics issues surrounding the FBI and its field offices. By integrating NGW tools in the FBI’s workforce, it brings employees together and makes it easier to share information.

Unified communications tools provide options which are being explored for better connections to local law enforcement, as well as the FBI’s domestic and international intelligence partners. With trailblazing and innovative collaborative ideas towards law enforcement, the FBI has found distance doesn’t matter.